Tuesday, April 4, 2017

Governor Cuomo, don't Devos-state our Schools! And how the charter lobby uses DOE charter collaboration in their push to raise the cap

Tomorrow
Wed. April 5 at 4:30 PM we will rally outside Governor Cuomo's office at
633 3rd Ave. (40th/41st), to protest his refusal to adequately fund our
public schools and his insistence on expanding charters and raising
their funding. Please join us; come with your kids and bring signs!

The
NY state budget is deadlocked with one of the main sticking points
related to whether the cap on charters will be lifted statewide, as the
GOP-dominated State Senate have proposed, lifted only in NYC as Gov.
Cuomo wants, or not at all as the Democratic majority in the Assembly
insists.

There are already 264 charter schools in the state, and 212 of them are in NYC, according to the NY Charter Center.
131 more charter schools are allowable outside NYC – and 30 more here
in NYC. For some reason, the hedge fund/charter lobby is most intent on
expanding charters inside the city, even though we already have the
lion's share.

At the same time, the Governor is also pushing
proposals to boost charter funding while cutting state reimbursement
that will cost the city up to $220 million more,
while losing $52 million in state reimbursement. At the same time, he
refuses to provide our public schools with the nearly $2 billion owed
them according to the Foundation formula. Instead he wants to totally
ditch the formula, developed as a result of the Campaign for Fiscal
Equity decision which ruled that more state education funding should go
to high-needs districts, rather than be based on political deal-making
by three men in a room, as it was in the past and would be in the future
if Cuomo gets his way.

Why is there such an obsession on the part
of the Republican leaders in the State Senate and the Governor to favor
charter schools? Not because of pressure from constituents or any
alleged charter school waiting lists which no one ever audits, but
because of the vast sums of money the Governor and the NY State
Republican party receives in campaign money from the NYC
hedgefund/charter lobby.

This year, $1.7
billion was drained from the DOE budget by charter schools;
this amount will certainly increase even without the Legislature
approving the proposals to lift the cap or boost their funding, as many of the 212 NYC charters already authorized
are rapidly growing in enrollment and expanding to new grade levels.. Not to mention the hugely negative impact of co-located charters on our public schools, squeezing them of space– or the approximately $40 million a year the
DOE is paying in rent for charters not co-located in public schools.

Meanwhile, for inexplicable reasons, the DOE is spending close to $ 3 million
this year on their district-charter “partnership” program -- which will increase to $5 million next year.. The ostensible goal of this
initiative is for districts to learn from the “best practices” of
charter schools, whatever they may be. One of the charter
chains participating in this program that our public schools are
supposed to emulate is Uncommon charters, known for having uncommonly high suspension rates.

Even
as the Mayor is on the record as opposing the lifting of the cap or increasing their funding, the NYC
charter center is also using this "partnership" program in their propaganda campaign
to advocate for the cap to be lifted.

See three different ads from
the NYC Charter Center inserted into Politico and City and State newsletters every single day since March 20. (In Politico, the ads are prefaced with these words: ** A message from New York City Charter School Center, words missing in City and State.) Ad #1: New York City’s charter schools are committed to helping all public schools improve.
In fact, one charter network is training new teachers from over 40
district schools throughout Brooklyn as part of the Department of
Education’s district-charter partnership program. New York needs more
quality public schools – charters are part of the solution. Support
Governor Cuomo’s Executive Budgetand liftthecaponchartersinNYC! Learn More

Ad #2: Chancellor Fariña recently stated that charter schools are not the problem; they are part of the solution.
It's time to stop worrying about school governance structures and focus
on more quality public school options for all New York families. Lift the arbitrary cap on charters! Learn More. ** Ad #3: Charter
schools are a vital part of New York's public education system. NYC
charter schools are not only working to ensure their students are
achieving at their full potential, but several charter leaders are
helping to improve district schools through the NYC Department of
Education's district-charter partnership programs. Problem is, there
still aren't enough great public schools to serve the tens of thousands
of students who need them now. Charter schools have proven their
commitment to and success in supporting high need and at-risk students.
That's why families are applying in droves and wait lists are 44,000
students long. Charter schools provide proven opportunities for opening
quality schools quickly. Potential school leaders should not be
discouraged from planning a great public school just because of an
arbitrary cap. Support Governor Cuomo's Executive Budget and lift the cap on charters in NYC!Learn more. **
************

While
Mayor de Blasio has spoken out against lifting the cap, Chancellor Farina has not opposed any single NYC charter school under consideration by the Regents or SUNY for authorization or renewal
as far as I know – though Superintendents of other districts regularly
do so when charters are proposed for their districts.

I was
speaking in Yonkers before their Council of PTAs last night about the
threat of privatization from the federal government and the state --and
they informed me that there is only one charter school that has ever
been authorized in Yonkers, perhaps because of the organized, unified
opposition by district leadership and elected officials when they are
proposed. What a shame. My Yonkers PTA presentation is below. thanks Leonie

Contact key education policymakers

Contact Board of Regents members' emails below.Click here to find your StateSenator; here for your AssemblymemberClick here to find your City Council member; click here to see contact information for Council members on Education CommitteeFor all your elected reps, click hereSpeaker Carl Heastie